Numbers
by ijustwanttobeabritishman
Summary: When John goes out for shopping and doesn't come back, Sherlock gets worried. He receives a letter with a Picture of John being tortured, and a series of numbers. Can he figure out what they could possibly mean before his time runs out?
1. Chapter 1

Three days.

John hadn't been back for three days.

Sherlock clasped his hands together and brought them to his chin, staring out of the window overlooking Baker Street.

"_Sherlock?" came John's voice from the doorway._

"_Mmm."_

"_I'm just going out to Tesco's. D'you need anything?"_

"_Mmm."_

_John paused. "All right, then. See you in an hour or so."_

John hadn't come back.

Sherlock sighed impatiently and pulled out his phone, scrolling down the contact list.

_Lestrade, John's missing._

_-SH_

He slipped the phone into his pocket and rose out of the chair, running a hand through his hair wearily.

"Sherlock dear? A letter just came for you!" Ms. Hudson bounded into the room, holding up a large white envelope. "The man who delivered it- Jim, his name was- ooh, such a nice man. He complimented my new dress, Sherlock!"

"Jim?"

"Yes, that's what he said his name was. Wouldn't tell me his last name, though." She sighed. "Anyways, here's your letter!"

Sherlock took the white envelope and Ms. Hudson bounded down the stairs.

Carefully, he slit the seal with his thumbnail and pulled out two pieces of paper.

One of them was a photo of John. His face was twisted in anguish, mouth open in a silent scream. His clothes were torn, harboring red stains in seemingly random places. His wrists and ankles were bolted to the large blood stained plank of wood underneath him. On the bottom of the photo, someone had written _Fancy a game, Sherlock?_

Sherlock looked at the other paper.

22(-i) 8

9 49 110(-s)

39 8 92 37(-b)

17 92 52(-t)

3(-i) 8 8 19

9 8 37(-b)

47(-g)

12(-g) 79(-u) 7

74 53 73(-a) 1

47(-g)

14 3 23 68

73(-a) 8 7 32 92 32(-g)

Sherlock frowned. What did this code of numbers mean?


	2. Chapter 2

"So, they're obviously letters pertaining to a code of some sort, with each number connected to a letter, or a group of letters, as seen by the small parentheses by the numbers which can only mean-"

"Sherlock."

"And the thing that we're missing here is the code, the letters these numbers match up to, the-"

"_Sherlock._"

"Shut _up_, Lestrade! As I was saying, we need the chart. What numbers would correspond with sets of letters, sometimes multiple letters-"

"SHERLOCK!"

"_What?"_

Lestrade crossed his arms, being careful he didn't knock his elbows against the pig's head on the counter beside them, giving Sherlock a pointed look.

"Sherlock, you haven't slept since Wednesday."

"Tuesday."

"Whatever. I need to concentrate."

"What you _need _is rest."

Sherlock scoffed. "Ugh. Rest is dull, boring. It wastes valuable time."

Lestrade pinched the bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply, then exhaling. "Sherlock, I didn't want to have to do this."

"Do wh-" Sherlock's sentence was cut off by Lestrade's fist connecting to his face with a resounding _crunch._ Sherlock fell to the floor, clutching his nose and trying not to spew blood all over the carpet.

"Sorry, Sherlock. Brother's orders."

Sherlock swore, trying to clamber back onto his feet. "Mycroft?"

Lestrade shrugged, looking surprisingly unapologetic that he'd just punched the man in the face. "Afraid so."

Sherlock managed to pick himself back up, supporting himself by leaning on the kitchen table. He blinked a couple of times, muttered something that sounded like "Mycroft's just an old hglftzzz…", and promptly passed out.

Lestrade sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

Numbers corresponding to letters, sometimes multiple. Numbers and letters. Numbers and letters.

"Sherlock?"

"What?" Sherlock snapped at Lestrade, who had stopped by for another visit t try to help on the case.

"Is... is that a skull?" Lestrade eyes the thing warily; it was yellowing and its eyes seemed to stare him down, intimidating him.

"Yes." Sherlock didn't look up from the paper he was staring at.

"A _real _human skull?"

"Yes."

"I'm… not even going to ask. You could bloody well have the periodic table tattooed on your arm and I wouldn't be surprised." Lestrade snorted.

There was a pause. Sherlock looked at Lestrade, bewildered.

"Lestrade, that's it!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Lestrade asked, confused.

"_The Periodic Table!"_

"What?"

"The note, don't you see? Each number leads to one of the elements, and for certain elements you have to take away numbers for it to match up with the- oh, this is _brilliant._"

Lestrade blinked.

"What?"

"_Lestrade."_

**[A/N] Bonus points go to whoever can decode the clue from the first chapter! There might be an error or two, but… heh. **

**Only human here.**


End file.
